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Consumer's Ire Could Shift
Bank, Credit-Card Fee Laws

By

Paul M. Barrett

Updated May 15, 1996 3:31 a.m. ET

Barbara Smiley's pique over credit-card late fees could shake up consumer and banking law.

Annoyed over several $15 late charges on her MasterCard and Visa accounts, Ms. Smiley, a Los Angeles homemaker and former teacher, in 1992 called up a law firm -- and wound up leading a class-action lawsuit against a Citicorp credit-card unit. Her claim: The South Dakota-based subsidiary had violated a California consumer-protection statute barring "excessive" contract penalties. Modest as this dispute may sound, it has...